Thousands Sleep Homeless Every Night, New Figures Show. This Hero Was One Of Them
Drug abuse and addiction. Bereavement. The responsibility of caring for a disabled parent. A nervous breakdown. Prison. Eventually, begging on the street.
Gerry O’Brien’s life story makes for a sobering read. But that’s precisely the reason he’s such a good outreach worker for those living on the streets today.
Now 51 and living in Islington, north London, he’s been clean for two and a half years and turned his life around.
He uses his experience to build trust with homeless people as part of Street Buddies – a programme staffed by volunteers that is successfully helping rough sleepers break the cycle of homelessness and get into stable accommodation.
The latest rough sleeping figures, published on Thursday morning by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, show 4,266 people were counted on the streets over a single night last autumn. But that is likely to be a significant underestimate: the data collection method means anyone who happens not to be on the street on one particular evening won’t be included. Nor will people sleeping on buses, couch surfing, staying with friends or family or bedding down at hostels.
The most recent number is down on last year’s 4,677, but still up by 141% compared with 2010.
Westminster, home of Parliament, was again the worst offender for rough sleeping: it has seen a 9% year-on-year rise and the council recorded 333 people sleeping rough in the 2019 count.
The annual rough sleeping snapshot provides information about the estimated number of people sleeping rough on a single night during the autumn.
These statistics provide a way of estimating the number of people sleeping rough across England on a single night and assessing change over time.
Local authorities across England take an annual autumn snapshot of rough sleeping using either a count-based estimate of visible rough sleeping, an evidence-based estimate meeting with local partners, or an evidence-based estimate meeting including a spotlight count...
